


Murder! at the Annual Hero Gala and Showcasing!

by cryptidren



Series: Private Eye M Series [3]
Category: MRPA Server, 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, But it gives an alibi., Dubious Science, Gen, Implied Sexual Content, Murder, Murder Mystery, Mystery, dubious everything
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-02
Updated: 2019-01-25
Packaged: 2019-10-02 13:22:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,066
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17264942
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cryptidren/pseuds/cryptidren
Summary: Hatsume Mei has been invited to the Hero Gala for her revolutionary support items. When the inventor sees a murder occur in the building across from where she's staying she is understandably shocked, but even more so when she realizes that that is the building where the Pro Heroes attending the Gala will stay. But where is the body? And who did it?





	1. Part One

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Happy New Year!

Hatsume still couldn’t believe it! She had been invited to present to the Hero Gala and Showcasing for the year, an honor that many inventors and tinkerers like her would die for. The event took place every year in the main areas of the Grand Sora Takumi Hotel. There were two interconnected auditoriums, one for the heroes and the other for the support showcase. She and the other special guests (wow, the disbelief lingered) had just finished setting up for the showings. She had been able to speak with some of the heroes attending the event too, since they were interested in her super cute, adorable, little babies!

 

Hatsume was only able to bring a few of her babies along (A pity, because she had so many of them. It was too hard to pick the ten she had to show!) to show off to the world. Her babies were going to be famous! From her itty bitty Electronic Door Opener (designed and quickly made to look like one of the hotel’s key cards out of honor) to her super thin Light Saw (like a hacksaw, but it could fit through the thinnest gaps and slice through the strongest metals) to her big baby Mecha Suit (no description needed, it’s a mecha suit), all of her children would make her famous. However she knew that she couldn’t stay up late to make things or else she’d be late for her little talk… but perhaps a few minutes (or hours) less of sleep would be fine. 

 

In the end, Hatsume Mei stayed up to mess around with mechanical parts for an hour. It was due to staying up late when no one else did that she became the sole witness to a murder in the next building over. A flickering light caught Mei’s eye and she looked up from her newest baby-in-progress (A flashlight that also ejected flash bombs) to view a morbid sort of shadow play begin on the closed curtains.

Two figures, one blurry, one distinct, entered from the left and proceeded to have an argument. The fight seemed to become more and more violent before the second figure, which Mei estimated to be between 5’6” and 7’, promptly grabbed what appeared to be a… lamp? and proceeded to whack the other over the head. And once more. And again, and again, and again, before grabbing the other figure by the neck until they went limp.

 

Mei knew what the protocol was. She dialed 110 and told the operator what she had witnessed.

 

When the police arrived, the only unusual thing in the room was a smashed lamp.

 

* * *

 

Tsukauchi Naomasa was tired. There had definitely seemed to be an altercation in the room recently, as according to the hotel custodial staff they had cleaned each of the rooms well in the few days before the heroes arrived at the gala. Unfortunately it seemed that the victim and assailant had both disappeared. Had this occurred in a normal setting everything would be relatively easy. This was no normal setting - this was the Annual Hero Gala and Support Showcasing.

 

The support-related guests were invited to showcase prototypes or fully-produced inventions for the future, with a special few selected to give talks or presentations. Said special few were Reid Zie, Hatsume Mei, Niseno Hikari, Haise Momiji, and Kikai Chinōko, with Hatsume being the one to witness the dreadful act. There was no problem here - it was the heroes causing the complications for once.

 

Heroes could be called in to fight a villain at any point of time and thus could freely exit and enter the building and event if they had their hotel ID. The scanners worked by scanning the card at the card reader next to the door, and then scanning them once more outside the building. Entering the building worked in the same way, just in the reverse order. If one of these steps had been skipped somehow, the entry or exit would not be recorded. They would have a hard time figuring out which heroes were out and when, but thankfully the door scanners recorded at what times a patron exited and entered the building. Along with this, the heroes were never actually assigned rooms - if a hero wanted to go to a room to retire, they simply had to find an empty room and use their keycard. The keycard would not work on an empty room, however. Unfortunately, the security system didn’t record who used which rooms, making the identification of the victim that much harder.

 

Thankfully the security cameras were working, so the tapes could be used to help find the murderer. It seemed that someone dressed as hotel staff entered the room at around 11 PM with a room service trolley, someone (presumably the victim), entered the room around ten minutes later, and at 11:20 PM the staff member left, making the mysterious supposed staff member the prime suspect in the case. However, all of the staff had alibis at the time of the crime, approximately 11:15 PM. Cameras spotted the suspect leaving the area with the service elevator and going to the support backroom, but the camera there were broken during an incident in setting up for the event. The suspect left and replaced the trolley in the maintenance room where it was found.

 

They could narrow down some defining characteristics of the assailant though - they had no noticeable mutations like horns or wings, and were somewhere between the heights of 5’6” and 7’. They could also rule out those who had alibis at the time of the murder. However, they were able to narrow down the victim to a few currently missing heroes: Gakudan Gakki (The Symphonic Hero, Conductor), Katou Ebisu (The Tattoo Hero, Ink), and Kuninoshi Miyako (The Cerberus Hero, Hellbeast).

 

The company that ran the Gala didn’t want the police to be seen investigating for fear of scandal, apparently. It was stupid, considering that the local journalists were like bloodhounds for a new story, but there wasn’t much they could do about it. Well, at least they could use the time to find the whereabouts of the possible victims.

 

Finding out the first one was relatively easy - Officer Kuninoshi Daisuke was her sibling and simply sent a quick text. She was verified alive when she sent a text back, stating that she left the Gala because she was bored. Afterwards, they drove to Katou’s residence where they knocked on the door.

 

The officers became worried when only silence answered, but that was broken by slow, tired footsteps trodding to the door. “Whadd’ya want?” Katou asked, exhaustion evident in his voice. It was clear why the tall man was exhausted too, with the fact that tattoos weren’t the only thing marking his skin. 

 

… Well, he definitely wasn’t the victim and probably had an alibi if those markings were any indicator. This left Gakudan, who had not checked out but had not been seen or heard from after they she retired to her room for the night. However, she was neither at her agency or residence, meaning that she was probably the victim. Nothing could be confirmed until they found a body though.

 

Everyone went to sleep uneasy that night.

 

* * *

 

It was the day of the showcasing and Hatsume Mei considered herself ready as could be. She glanced at her schedule.

 

> _ Support Company/Guest Presentation and Talk Timetable _ _  
>  _
> 
>   * _10:00 AM - Reid, Zie - “The Intertwined Fields of Heroism and Support”_
>   * _10:15 AM - Presentation Setup_
>   * _10:30 AM - Hatsume, Mei - Presentation_
>   * _11:00 AM - Presentation Cleanup_
>   * _11:20 AM - Mendoza, Rhenalyn - “How to Advertise” [Keynote Presentation]_
>   * _11:40 AM - Niseno, Hikari - “The Importance of Shitty and Useless Inventions”_
>   * _12:00 PM - Lunch_
>   * _12:45 PM - Presentation Setup and Lunch (cont.)_
>   * _1:00 PM - Haise, Momiji - Presentation_
>   * _1:30 PM  - Presentation Cleanup_
>   * _1:50 PM - Kikai, Chinōko - “Conclusions and Beginnings”_
>   * _2:00 PM - Showcase End and Gallery Walk_
> 


_ _ _ _ __ _ _ _ _

An announcer’s voice rang out over the intercoms. “Please welcome Mr. Reid and his short discourse on how Heroics and Support both rely upon and improve one another!” Muffled applause started in the auditorium as a brunette in formal attire exited the backstage area and nearly bumped into a hero who had come in to look around at the support tech. He seemed especially interested in her babies! A man with burgundy hair fidgeted as the two other women chattered about something or other that Hatsume didn’t care about. 

 

The announcement system declared that they would now start to set up for the next presentation -  _ her _ presentation. Was she stressed? Definitely. A bit anxious? Oh yeah.

 

Was she going to walk out there with a smile on her face as she showed off her children to the world?

 

Definitely.


	2. Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which everything goes to shit.

After the fifteen minutes of intermission, Hatsume entered the B-Side Auditorium and was instantly mobbed by reporters. Pops and flashes of light were directed towards the middle-school student as she wore a grin and waved to the press. A few of the more enthusiastic journalists were attempting to interrupt her path, but were ultimately pushed back by the security crew. Even so, they still bombarded the young lady with inquiries.

 

“Excuse me, Miss Hatsume! This is Shashin Shirokuro from _Heroes Periodical_! Are you planning to become a student at UA?” A man with a video camcorder for a head asked. Hatsume moved to answer when another reporter jumped in, declaring herself to be “Kādo Kyu, from _Hosu Metropolitan_! Can you tell us how you-” A security crew member gave the lot a stern reminder to stay behind the walkway boundaries.

 

Mei was bewildered but that didn’t stop her from advertising. “Don’t worry! You’ll surely get to see all of my babies~! Maybe you’ll even get to see the unveiling of my Super-Cute Adorable Baby (version 1.2 - copyrighted by Hatsume Mei)!” “Babies?” A curious journalist asked. “An inventor’s creations are their children!” Hatsume declared before she walked up on the stage.

 

The stage was large and had little platforms and displays, each covered by a large tarp. She knew which of her babies were where though - mother’s intuition had yet to fail her. A man in a grey suit gestured dramatically at the girl. “The prodigious inventor! The mother of a thousand machines! The middle-school mastermind! Presenting: Hatsume Mei!” The crowd politely cheered. “I’m Enzetsusha Teiji and I’ll be asking you some questions as you show off your inventions, if I may?”

 

“Oh goodie, you can help me with my babies!”

  
  
“Your what.”

 

And that’s how Enzetsusha Teiji was roped into being the test subject, for lack of a better term, of a middle-school girl’s crazy creations.

 

* * *

 

Hatsume had started off simply - a keycard that, for all intents and purposes, resembled the standard hotel guest card. However, it opened any electronic lock and removed any traces of the user using it. For non-electronic locks, she also had a key that modified itself to fit any lock in the span of a few seconds. There was the Light Saw, which resembled a katana with a serrated edge, the blade composed entirely of light (which could be changed to different colors and intensities). There was the automatic MediMixer, which could quickly synthesize any prescription drug. The demonstrations for each were quick, simple, and relatively straightforward - and then there were the Blobble Bubbles, which left everyone some combination of amused, bemused, and nonplussed.

 

“So, Miss Hatsume, er, what exactly does this… do..?” The interviewer’s voice rang out from the speakers as he poked the bubble he was in noting that, while it was permeable with enough force it did not burst as bubbles usually did. The bubble was currently holding him, his chair, the still-covered invention 10, a lamp, and a bowling ball on a table. Also, for whatever reason there could possibly be for such a thing, the Blobble Bubbles (as the inventor called them) were a transparent pastel pink in color. “For all intents and purposes, you’ve just placed me in a random orb.”

  
  
Hatsume pulled out a small rocket launcher (the previous invention shown), aimed it at the bubble, and fired.

 

Everyone was blown away (literally), and then blown away (figuratively) when they noticed that not only was the bubble and its contents still intact, but they had not moved despite the force of the explosion. Regardless of the results, the interviewer did not stop screaming for a good ten seconds. “Ah. Oh.” He composed himself. “Now, why would you do that?!”

 

Hatsume ignored him. “As you can see, the Blobble Bubble has supreme shock nullification capabilities! Notice how the bowling ball has not moved despite being blasted by my Bombatica 3000! Observe the sheer amount of volume it could store! Tell me, Speaker-Man, are you injured in any way?”

 

“... No..? I still don-”

  
  
“Behold how the inhabitants are completely unharmed! You can exit the bubble by the way.” The interviewer, dazed, stepped out of the bubble with little difficulty. “Witness now how these can be used to capture villains!” She took out a spray bottle with an atomizer nozzle and spritzed the bubble heavily. The surface became translucent and the bubble started to shrivel like a deflated balloon onto its contents until it formed a durable shell around the items inside it, like a demented chemical shrink wrap.

 

Enzetsusha had many regrets. _Many_ regrets.

* * *

 

The next inventions passed with less chaotic events, if one could say that any event involving the inventor was any sort of orderly. At long last, they were at the last invention. Hatsume promptly pulled off the last tarp to reveal a robotic exoskeleton. “WITNESS! My Super-Cute Adorable Baby (version 1.2 - copyrighted by Hatsume Mei)!” She gesticulated towards its various features. “Behold the incredible firepower! Look at these massive _guns_!”

 

Despite her various eccentricities, Hatsume was garnering no small amount of interest. Several heroes had abandoned the other auditorium in favor of the show and the collective audience was silent, enraptured by the pink-haired girl’s charisma.

 

“And the best part is… ANYONE CAN USE IT! It comes with a full tutorial for newer users and can recall information from past sessions inside it! Come on, Mr. Interview Man, don’t you wanna be part of the future?” The inventor didn’t wait for an answer and indicated the entrance to the inside of the technological suit. As if on cue (and it probably was), the armor opened up with a soft mechanical whirr and a dramatic cloud of smoke.

 

Also dramatic was the body that hit the ground, falling out of the exo-suit like groceries would a badly-packed fridge.

 

_Smack_. 

 

* * *

 

“Looks like we found our missing body.” Detective Tsukauchi was tired, as was the usual with this case. “I told them to call off the event for a bit, but _no_. They wanted to prevent a _scandal_ , they said.” He glanced at the newspaper. It didn’t matter which one, as they all declared the same thing - a beloved pro-hero had died at a prestigious event. Now everyone was on some sort of race to find out who did it and how the hell they did what they did.

 

Shiin, the coroner, had found that the Symphonic Hero - Conductor (civilian name Gakudan Gakki) was murdered. _Lovely_. The police force’s distress was further augmented by the fact that due to their increasing number of solved cases, everyone was pushing the burden onto their shoulders. People wanted answers.

 

If there was one good thing about it, it was that there was some relatively reliable testimony on who the murderer could be. If only it wasn’t so vague - between five foot six and six feet? A good portion of the heroes in attendance fit that bill, not to mention other attendees. This was unfortunately balanced out by the fact that, while the keycard scanners for individual rooms did not log which keycard entered or exited a room, the other scanners in the building did do so - and they had found that despite video evidence, the scanners for the elevators, the auditorium, and other places did not create a timestamp for the murderer.

 

Logically one would conclude that someone could have used Hatsume’s Electronic Door Opener, but when would they have taken or returned it? Hatsume had stated that she had taken it back with her to her room during the night, and put it back in its display case before the showcasing.

 

Hopefully they could find the culprit soon.

 

* * *

 

It had been a week and they had yet to find the culprit. The populace had banded behind a cry of “Justice for Conductor!” and the police force was facing heavy criticism for not yet finding the murderer. Even worse, the local mortality rate for villain attacks had risen due to them being emboldened by the death of a hero. They were caught all the same, but the sudden lack of a hero was something that many had not been prepared for and most had yet to adapt to it.

 

Currently our favorite police detective was attending a meeting with other officers and the chief superintendent. It was just coming to a close, everyone having decided upon a very important decision.

 

This could be called an emergency situation, after all.

 

Fifteen minutes later a modest sedan parked in front of the police station. A somewhat plump, middle-aged woman stepped out of the drivers side seat. She wore her viridian hair in a small bun and was dressed in a simple white blouse, straight skirt and grey flats. Her footsteps were silent as she ambled into the building, all eyes focused on her. Eventually someone clapped, leading to a cascade of applause. Both Tsukauchi and the elder Midoriya were puzzled, though it became clearer when a rookie, with tears in his eyes ( _why were they crying what_ happened) bowed and thanked her gratefully for her help on the cases..? He was joined by the rest of the police force.

 

_Ah,_ noted the detective. _There’s been a misunderstanding._

 

“You have the wrong person, I’m afraid. I’m not the private eye - Izuku is.”

 

Who was Izuku, those that were unaware pondered? A sibling? A friend? Perhaps her husband? They voiced their hypotheses and inquiries as one.

 

Unseen by everyone, Izuku had also departed the vehicle to stand shyly behind his mother - “Oh, Izuku?” - and was promptly revealed when his mother stepped aside.

 

“He’s my darling son.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _Smack._


End file.
